The Independent reported on Scott Panetti’s case. He is set to be executed on Wednesday, December 3, 2014 even though he has long suffered from mental illness. Tim Walker, the article’s author, said,

Long before it became clear from his courtroom antics, Mr Panetti had been diagnosed as severely mentally ill, which is why his impending lethal injection – due to be carried out on Wednesday – is opposed by not only his lawyers and a familiar collection of human rights groups, but also by an alliance of conservatives.

Among those protesting against Mr Panetti’s death sentence are more than 50 leading evangelical Christians, seven Methodist bishops, 10 Texas state politicians and the libertarian former presidential candidate Ron Paul. Mr Paul, a former Republican congressman who once backed the death penalty, wrote last month to Rick Perry, the Texas Governor, to appeal for clemency in the Panetti case. It is thought to be the first time he has publicly opposed an execution.

Walker additionally said,

The unlikely coalition of conservatives against the death penalty has found in Mr Panetti’s case a cause célèbre. Last year, Mr Paul publicly endorsed the campaign group Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty, saying he believed capital punishment was “inconsistent with libertarianism and traditional conservatism”.